Showing posts with label *June Paik. Show all posts
Showing posts with label *June Paik. Show all posts

Friday, May 6, 2011

June Paik & Battle Of Wolf 359 - 2010 Split


Band : June Paik
Album : June Paik 10"
Release Year : 2008
Genre : Screamo | Emotive | Post-Rock

Tracklist :
A1- June Paik - Grenzwert
B1- Battle of Wolf 359 - We Can't Go On Like This
B2- Battle of Wolf 359 - Eclipse Chasing

This split came out recently as part of the pair's partial tour of the US in August. Since the bands have been friends for a while and their sounds complement each other well the idea of a split is perfect. With React With Protest also heavily involved in helping both bands they are naturally putting this out, along with the guys from Adiago 830. A fairly minimalistic 7'' in terms of artwork and packaging but this is made up for by the sheer crushing heaviness contained within the record.

June Paik are a band that blew me away when I first heard them but failed to retain my enthusiasm as time went on, as they seemed to repeat the same sort of formula but not as well. I was told, however, that their song on this split is one of their best yet and I am very happy to say that I concur. I can tell it's them playing but they have constructed a song very different to their recent 10'', with a definite increase in heaviness and ferocity. They still include their trademark instrumental parts but initially there is a teasingly short part before the heaviness kicks back in. Towards the end there is a bit more of their traditional melodic and epic feel. The only thing I don't like is how the song fades out in volume, it cheapens the track somewhat. Other than that it's great and I hope the band can come up with some more new songs with this sort of quality.

Battle Of Wolf 359 conjure up two songs on the flip side which are as solid as ever. Further crushing hardcore which also dabbles in instrumental melody at times. Lyrics are about the recent change in British government and foreign conflict. I am very interested to see where this band go next; they have a fairly original sound, numerous records out that I listen to a fair amount and are phenomenal live. I just hope they can keep evolving and keep sounding fresh.





June Paik - 2008 June Paik 10"


Band : June Paik
Album : June Paik 10"
Release Year : 2008
Genre : Screamo | Emotive | Post-Rock

Tracklist :
 1 I
2 IV
3 III
4 II

Think about all of the emo bands in existence that all want to sound like Neil Perry and Orchid and what not, and just fail. Think about all the bands that try to mix more melodic Euro-styled emo with post rock and just fail. Now imagine if someone took that classic, "emo violence," sound and texture and successfully mixed it with a post-rock sound, without sounding like an Envy or Anomie clone with long-winded Explosions In The Sky-esque interludes. Yep, that's what we've got on our hands here.

This has been in my last.fm recommendations for pretty much as long as I've had a last.fm, and I just never picked it up. Maybe it's because so much of what I used to listen to sucked that I didn't want anymore that sounds like that, who knows, but I'm glad I finally checked these guys out. When you throw on the record, you're assaulted with Neil Perry worship to the point that you think it actually is Neil Perry if you're not paying attention, dissonant harmonized riffs, chugging, almost melodic breakdowns, melodic breaks, raspy vocals, these Krauts have it all down. Then they build it into something so much more than you were expecting. The instrumental segments of this album are beautiful, in that entrancing and moody fashion that the modern emo scene seems to have lost.

The main issue with this EP is that it's nothing new. It doesn't stray too far past that common complaint that most screamo sounds the same. It does sound the same, but it still stands out, I assure you. So if you're a fan of wistful melodic Euro acts like Mihai Edrisch and Suis La Lune, and a fan of more intense and dissonant classic American acts, this is for you. Honest to God, this would be a 5/5 if Orchid and Neil Perry didn't already exist.
 
 
 
 
 

June Paik - 2006 June Paik LP


Band : June Paik
Album : June Paik LP
Release Year : 2006
Genre : Screamo | Emotive | Post-Rock

Tracklist :
1. Und Wieder
2. Alaska
3. Recherche
4. Echoes
5. Grobes Rund
6. Schmelzpunkt

June Paik are an emotive hardcore band from Donauwörth in Germany. The latter of which drew their already dark and intense style more towards epic build ups and heavy droning passages much in the vein of mid-90's Canadian hardcore bands such as Union of Uranus and One-Eyed God Prophecy, and also a song on each the Emo Apocalypse and Emo Armageddon compilations from React With Protest.

Structurally, June Paik is your typical and exemplary emo album. Up and down she groans, beginning with a sorrowful guitar lead in "Und Wieder" only to erupt into furious bombast, and then right back to nothing but a mournful guitar. The song continues in this ebb and flow fashion with a few sinister riffs thrown in, until a somewhat post-rockesque finish keeps it from boiling over to create a superlative sense of tension. "Aleska" begins roughly in the same fashion and continues on its treacherous path. Up to this point you may have noticed how premium the guitar is on June Paik but it rarely ever ceases to steal the show in a wonderful way. Guitarist Sebastion drenches the songs in meloncholic guitar passages and tight, controlled chaos. He also uses tremolo picking well during these flashes of chaos to create more sense of speed and anguish. Truth be told, June Paik doesn't differentiate from this formula (albeit a winning one), though the constant pounding of despair makes this an incredible and draining experience.

There is one song that is worth noting individually. "Grobes Rund" is incredible on its own without the mammoth album backing it, and stands as the best song overall. A rather dark intro which produces the muffled sound of a child playing, showing the innocence of childhood, explodes with a bit more bite this time around. It's clear June Paik are strict in their songwriting but "Grobes Rund" is the best represntation of the albums sound.